The Garage 356

NTDANEWS
NTDA delighted by DfT announcement
on use of rear-facing red flashing lamps
on breakdown vehicles
The NTDA has welcomed the Government’s publication, of
its ‘Plan for Drivers’ which contains details of the decision
by the Secretary of State for Transport to amend the
legislation to permit breakdown vehicles to be fitted with
rear-facing red flashing lamps when recovering brokendown
vehicles on GB roads.
The regulatory amendments that would permit red flashing
lamps on breakdown vehicles are not expected to enter
into force until 2025 but, as an interim measure, the DfT will
facilitate operators, to use red flashing lamps sooner. Operators will
need to apply for a Vehicle Special Order (VSO) under the authority
conferred upon the Secretary of State for Transport by section 44
of the Road Traffic Act 1988.
The NTDA has campaigned for the use of red lamps on breakdown
response vehicles for many years, both in its own right and alongside
the Professional Recovery Operators Federation (PROF), which has
led on the campaign.
NTDA CEO Stefan Hay said: “Vehicle Recovery Operators and Tyre
Technicians, both Mobile and Commercial, are comrades working
together to keep Britain moving in often appalling and usually very
dangerous conditions and sadly, in both cases, the recovery and
tyre industries have lost people at the side of the road.
This has been a long and often frustrating battle and the
PROF Chairman Richard Goddard, who spoke at the 2019 NTDA
Tyre Industry Conference on this matter, and Derek Firminger
of European Rescue and Recovery Initiative (ERRI) have been
phenomenal allies and inspirational leaders in this campaign. Over
the years we have fought together, laughed together, shouted
together and sometimes wanted to cry together and I can’t express
in words how absolutely delighted the NTDA is by this decision.
Common sense has finally prevailed and we now have another
extremely important safety tool available to protect our precious
technicians working at the roadside.”
The DfT will be publishing the reports from the two phases of its
funded research in due course. As well as the outcomes on the use
of red flashing lamps, the reports make recommendations which
could help improve safety for recovery technicians and other road
users.
To view ‘Plan for Drivers’ go to: www.gov.uk/government/
publications/plan-for-drivers/the-plan-for-drivers
6 THE GARAGE
06 News NTDA.indd 1 30/10/2023 11:34